>Living on the line, Marshall, MI
Scott Sines, ©The Green Rocket News
Bitumen is a particularly difficult form of oil.
One of the planet’s largest petroleum resources, it’s the texture of peanut butter. Too thick to be pumped, Bitumen is diluted with benzene. Pipeline pressure is greatly increased. Low cost oil flows to refineries. And the gas pumps.
It’s a risky gamble. Diluted Bitumen (dilbit) spilled over water can be almost impossible to remedy. The benzene evaporates and the oil sinks. Traditional clean-up methods can make the problem worse. Three and a half years after Line 6B ruptured near Marshall Michigan, Enbridge Energy is still dredging. >more
>Living on the line in Mayflower
©Scott Sines, The Green Rocket News
The lily pads and vegetation are gone. In their place are containment booms, mud, and foil pie pans tied to trees, to discourage birds from landing on the water. As Genieve Long and Alyssa Martinez slog through the muck, the water filling their bootprints turns from brown to black. It’s diluted bitumen (dilbit) oil, that started in Canada and landed March 29, 2013, in a small cove just off Lake Conway in Mayflower, Arkansas. >more
>Healing the body, feeding the soul
Scott Sines, ©The Green Rocket News
Chemo can kill an appetite.
Convincing the sickest kids in the world to eat something healthy can be daunting, if not impossible. But Rick Farmer had an idea. Serve them candy. The executive chef at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis combined his culinary smarts, science and childhood imagination into gummy fruit snacks cooked ultra-slow to maximize nutrition. Yes, candy. And he asked the kids to design the shapes, which explains the worms and skulls. “They just need to eat — anything — as long as it’s real food,” said Farmer. What they eat is part of the cure. >more
>Osceola waits for better times
Scott Sines, ©The Green Rocket News
Osceola, Arkansas — Osceola is impatient. Sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River, 40 miles north of Memphis, the little delta town has reasons to hope. But they won’t get carried away. They’ve been burned by false hopes before.
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>Cliff’s Dream
She was working at the Yum Burger in Kramer’s Junction, California. He was a long-haul truck driver from Arkansas. The Yum Burger became a regular stop for him and one thing led to another. >more
Bricks $225 a palette
Scott Sines, ©The Green Rocket News
You gotta earn it on the Delta. Hammering mortar off bricks in the Delta sun is not for everyone. On a hot September day Keith Forester is checking on a crew of three local men he’s hired to reclaim bricks from a collapsed building. He acknowledges that, yes it’s very hot, banters with the crew, then rides them a little, “Don’t wear out the seats of your pants sitting in the shade over there.” He knows they may, or may not work the whole day. Still some work will get done because they need the money.>more
>Pipeline to connect Texas/Louisiana with Ohio/Pennsylvania
Memphis – Homeowners in Germantown, TN, who live along the right of way to a natural gas pipeline, will begin receiving notices on June 14 from Boardwalk Pipeline Partners about a change in what is running through the pipes. “Due to declining usage on long haul lines we can shut down one of the three pipelines running through the area (Owensboro, KY, to Eunice, LA) and convert it to repurposing liquid products from natural gas production,” said Kyle Stephens, VP for Regulatory Affairs for Boardwalk Pipeline Partners. >more
>Coming full circle: Lindsay Chandler: 1935–2013
Scott Sines, ©The Green Rocket News
From cars to cantaloupes, my family has always bought locally if we could. Still do.
When we moved to Memphis many years ago, Lindsay Chandler was one of the first people I met at the Farmer’s Market. It simply wasn’t possible for me to walk by his tables of gladiolas and not buy a few. . . Okay a dozen.
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Idaho’s got a big head of steam
Idahoans are in hot water.
They use it to heat everything from the state capitol, the university, homes, small businesses and greenhouse operations. In May, President Obama committed $350 million for expansion of geothermal energy. Idaho used some of that money to fund an expansion of hot water across the Boise River to heat parts of the Boise State campus.
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